Reflection Roundup: Stormy Bank or the River?

Each week we gather news stories, notable pieces, and other important items for Christian leaders today. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but may not concur. Here are 10 things worth sharing this week.

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On Sunday, my preacher relayed a story from Peter Scazerro’s Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, of crossing a river, standing on stones that had been taken from a comfortable dwelling on the bank and thrown, one at a time, into the rushing water to create steps. Anyone else there?

1. Carson Reed does practical theology, asking, “What’s going on here that might help other folk?” In “Congregational Mission: A Report From the Field” for Mosaic, Reed shares his recent experiences consulting with 11 churches, each poised to take action. It would not be surprising to find, mirroring among these congregations, images of our own as we aspire to remain hopeful, courageous, prayerful, and imaginative.

2. “The dangers of providing pastoral care” allows the reader to listen in on a conversation about the ministry to which Christ challenges us – featuring Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon for the Christian Century. Many of the complaints Christians have about their lives when they are able to care for themselves in physical ways (those who have social comfort and positions of favor in their communities) are the very implications of a responsive Christian life. “Woundedness is the predictable price we pay for being sent on outrageous assignments by Jesus.” It’s not a minister’s job to placate this. This is a challenging piece! Here’s a sample:

To all who brag, “I would do anything for my family,” the communitarian Eucharist proclaims, “That’s not good enough for Jesus.” When we worship God, the individual is critiqued by the communal, the prophetic and pastoral meet, and the Trinity teaches us the joy of living our lives out of our control. In his resurrection, Christ forever defeated our fantasies that life is under our control.

3. In “Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience,” Elizabeth Dias, faith and politics writer for the New York Times, says, “The company is intensifying formal partnerships with faith groups across the United States and shaping the future of religious experience.” As acknowledged within the piece, this is a tricky line to walk. Last month, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said, “Faith organizations and social media are a natural fit because fundamentally both are about connection.” Bob Pritchett, founder of Faithlife, an online Christian ministry platform, reminds, “It is dangerous to have your community anchored on a tech platform that is susceptible to all the whims of politics and culture and congressional hearings,” portraying the inherent tension between folks participating as parishioners or consumers.

4. To say listening is an integral part of what leaders and ministers do is an understatement. Jackie Halstead, director of Nashville’s Selah: Center for Spiritual Formation, encourages us to “listen first, and – listen second.” Check out this reminder from the folks at Cal Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center: “Six Ways to Be a Better Listener.” “Here are the do’s and don’ts of good active listening.” Then catch Halstead’s conversation, “The Listening Side of Prayer,” on the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry’s Intersection series hosted by Carson Reed and Randy Harris.

5. Jake Owensby writes “God Here and Now: Seeing life against a divine horizon” about a conversation with a good friend and fellow seeker looking for God in the dailiness of life. Here, Owensby models good listening behavior, but then chooses to speak because that’s what those who believe must do. “We also believe, and so we speak” (2 Cor. 4:13). Owensby shares with the friend, and with the reader, how awareness of dependence upon God heightens perception of God’s activity within individual and community life.

6. Reading Jenna Barnett’s “God Is Like a Blanket Fort” piece for Sojourners on the book What Is God Like?, I am reminded of the gentleness with which we must handle one another’s wonderings. As a new school year approaches and our circles of influence widen once more, may we realize afresh the impact of stories of our faith, both in the biblical text and in our lived experiences. May we keep sharing, and may we accept the challenge of the collaborators – Matthew Paul Turner, the late Rachel Held Evans, and illustrator Ying Hui Tan – to “keep searching. Keep wondering. Keep learning about God.”

7. Cheryl Mann Bacon reports “Ministries emerge from pandemic with hope” for the Christian Chronicle, narrating the positive expectation that continues to drive Churches of Christ and their affiliated ministries. Read Bacon’s reports from all around the field of those acknowledging “their organizations will look different. They hope to be more agile, more responsive to circumstances, and better prepared to achieve their missions.” Don’t miss the heartfelt gratitude expressed by Chronicle president and CEO Erik Tryggestad at the end of Bacon’s piece.

8. If you can get excited about books – I mean really really excited – then take as many moments as you’d like to peruse this list: “Fall 2021 – Most Anticipated Books for Christian Readers!” Prepared by C. Christopher Smith for the Englewood Review, the list spans topics and genres within Christian literature. Among the 45 titles, there’s something for all ages, including some especially sweet, curious, and celebratory reads for children. Clear off your “spot” and get ready to build a new stack as the titles begin releasing next month and continue through the end of the year. Here are more books specifically from Abingdon. Hand the list to a loved one. Christmas shopping: done! You’d be doing them a favor, right?!

9. “We’re just walking around trying to be old people that young people want to talk to,” quips Suzanne Stabile, host of the Enneagram Journey podcast, during this conversation with Brian McLaren surrounding his new book, Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It. Having walked roads back to themselves and back to faith for quite some time, Stabile and McLaren explore “stages of faith” alongside how differing Enneagram perspectives inform our disorientation. Issues raised in life, especially in church life, can really throw us for a loop, and McLaren and Stabile offer perspective on why this is the case. They touch on nearly every one of the most difficult questions we’re asking just now while reflecting on what has challenged the church throughout modern history. Ultimately, the conversation acknowledges that we all hold parts of ourselves in each of the stages described, which creates the empathic understanding characteristic of Enneagram work. May we each consider our part in keeping the conversation open.

10. “As we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way” (Is. 53:6). This video exemplifies the truth of Scripture as we can literally watch some go astray (like, really astray). The images remind me of a favorite hymn – “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!” – and the ways in which God draws us back together to commune both individually and congregationally. Pretty beautiful imagery, first seen here.